Quote:
Originally Posted by delts145
Agree with your assessment Ironweed. The West Quarter is going to be a phenomenal very classy addition to downtown and will definitely contribute activity to the Arena. I would only say that the development on the parking lots to the north will be well-planned and very classy as per usual with the L.D.S. Church. It's only a matter of how soon not if. That said, it won't be geared toward entertainment but the more extended expansion of educational, office, and residential development.
Regarding Gateway itself. Everyone along the Wasatch who is even mildly familiar with Gateway understands that a lot of changes have been made over the past few years. Tens of millions have been spent on converting it from primarily retail shopping to more of an entertainment and restaurant venue. The tens of millions are now reaching into the hundreds of millions with the ongoing conversion/reuse of the Union Pacific Depot into the very upscale Ansel Adams luxury hotel. So there's that. Not to mention that thousands of residential units, many of which are fan occupied have been built to the north, south, east, and west. Gateway itself will continue to enhance its offerings as downtown continues to buildup around it.
What I'm wondering is what are the plans for the underdeveloped plots directly to the east? That Fidelity office on the corner shouts placeholder. With the exception of the West entrance to the Convention Center, the entire west end of that block seems primed for something major. Makid or anyone heard of plans or rumors for that stretch along 300 West?
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The problem with Vivint is the orientation of it means most fans come in from the East side, with the southwest corner being the team/player entrance and loading docks, which is the corner that faces the heart of the Gateway.
The other problem with the Gateway is most of the attractions are on the interior of it, and just like Horton Plaza in SD, the street engagement is completely uninviting, just parking garage entrances, office entrances, Recursion entrance, entrance to the eventual new hotel, and the Depot. It's a wall that sends fans directly back to their cars instead of into inviting restaurants with sidewalk eating, live music playing, walkable areas that you can see from the arena. Like the other post above, Gateway is still thought of as a shopping mall when it's improved so much now, but you'd never know it was there unless you go into it or drive down Rio Grande.
On the south side there's a dilapidated building next to the Courtyard Marriott that could be renovated into something, but it's on the corner of the arena hardly anyone sees. On the East side is an empty office building that could be renovated into something cool, and that Fidelity building plus parking lot that could also be redone. John Stockton Drive is so wide though, it's almost too wide for anyone to want to cross over that street to get to a restaurant.
A visionary would take the SB side of John Stockton Drive along that block of Vivint and close it, making JS Drive a one-way only going north for a block, and make that SB side commercial zoning and build some restaurants right there, connected directly to the Vivint property.
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